A nearly foolproof recipe to make your own, homemade Italian ciabatta bread in under four hours!
Ciabatta is my favorite Italian bread, but it is not always the easiest and quickest bread to make, even for a seasoned baker.
The dough is rather wet and sticky and can seem impossible to work with when you're new to the process, but that wet stickiness is also vital to the light, bubbly, airy texture of this bread.
This also is a bread that requires some planning ahead because you need to let the starter stand overnight or at least several hours. And planning ahead is not my favorite thing to do.
I was resigned to making ciabatta only when I have the time, which is not often, until I came upon a great technique that cuts down the waiting significantly.
The initial rise time for this ciabatta is under two hours, and the second rise is just about an hour. So in under four hours, including prep and baking time, you are rewarded with a fluffy, crusty, delicious bread that you won't be able to stop dunking in olive oil and popping into your mouth. Imagine that.
I have a busy Sunday, so I can't chat too long. My neighbor Heather and I are trapping some feral cats in our neighborhood and I am transporting them to the spay and neuter clinic this afternoon. But before I say ta-ta, here's the recipe. Enjoy, all!
Make these vegan breads next:
- Sourdough Olive and Sage Loaf
- Sourdough Pretzels
- Vegan Olive Oil Brioche with Aquafaba
- The Best Sourdough Sandwich Bread, Yeast Free
Quick Ciabatta
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
- 2 ¼ cups warm (not hot) water (you might need more if you are in a dryer area)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar (not usually found in traditional ciabatta, but it really helps speed the rise)
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, water and yeast in a bowl and set aside for five minutes for the yeast to start working.
- Add the flour and salt and mix in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. You want the mixture to be just slightly thicker than a pancake batter-- it should definitely not pull together into a firm dough.
- Let the mixture stand for about 15 minutes. Then turn on the stand mixer to a medium-high setting. After about six minutes, the dough will start to make a flapping sound and start rising up the sides of the bowl.
- At this point, switch the paddle for the dough hook and knead for another six to seven minutes until the dough starts pulling cleanly off the sides of the bowl. It will be smooth at this stage but still very sticky and loose.
- Grease a bowl and pour the dough into it. Cover with a plastic wrap or kitchen towel and place in a warm spot, like an oven with the pilot light on.
- In about 1 ½ to 2 hours, the dough would have tripled.
- Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper and then dusting the paper liberally with flour.
- Pour the dough out of the bowl and into the center of the cookie sheet. Dust the top with flour.
- Using a bench scraper, divide the dough into two pieces. Using the bench scraper and a wet hand if needed, shape the dough, tucking the irregular pieces underneath, until you have two flat logs. The logs should be about six inches apart. This is a rustic bread, and the wet dough is not going to hold a definite shape, so don't even try for a beautiful, even look. This is known as an Italian slipper bread for a reason. The baked bread will turn out absolutely gorgeous, trust me, with a translucent, lit-from-within look and those gorgeous air holes.
- Dust some more flour over the logs, then cover them with a loose kitchen towel and place in a warm spot for about an hour or until the logs are risen and all puffy-looking.
- About half an hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone or baking stone in place. Place an empty pan in the bottom rack while preheating, then add a cup of water to it just before you place the bread in the oven.
- Place the ciabatta loaves directly on the baking stone by sliding the parchment off your cookie sheet. If you are really not sure how to do this, just place the entire baking sheet on top of the baking stone.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the loaves are golden-brown and the bottom sounds hollow then tapped.
- Cool thoroughly on a rack.
Melissa
You can cut this recipe in half no problem if you only want one loaf! This time I added a tsp of vital wheat gluten and subbed some buttermilk in for some of the water! Great! Tastes almost like a sourdough! Also I have a 6 inch round springform pan and decided to do 2nd rise and bake in there! Great! I got a nice tall round loaf for variety! Fyi- This is my most requested bread! Love it
Vaishali
So happy to hear, Melissa. Thanks for sharing your great tips!
Liz
LOVE this recipe. How can we substitute your starter for some of the dry yeast?
Vaishali
Hi Liz, I have not used a sourdough starter to make ciabatta, but here are some ideas: use 3/4 cup starter and cut down flour to 3 1/2 cups. Reduce water to 1 3/4ths cup. You can add a teaspoon of yeast if you want to be safe, but I think you can skip it, if you use a recently fed, strong starter. Your first rise would have to be long--overnight or at least 10-12 hours. The second rise would prob need about 2 hours. Hope this helps.
Beth
I didn’t have huge holes in the bread like I wanted to. There were holes and it rose, etc, but i want those artisan big holes. Any suggestions?
Missy
You may have used too much flour. I've made this no lie prob 1000X ! Its a damned it you do damned if you don't situation. Too much flour = smaller holes but higher loaf! Less flour = bigger holes flat loaf! I adjust the flour for whatever I'm making for! It is a STICKY dough! I grease my hands to work with it
Melissa
LOVE THIS RECIPE! I've used it for YEARS!! You can play w/the water to flour ratio depending on if you want a firmer bread = more flour or lighter more airy bread = less flour! You can also play w/sugar salt amount depending on taste. First rise I never do more than an hour ( I only use instant yeast)
Its a STICKY dough! Grease hands and a bench scraper is your BFF with this dough! You can cut this into rolls easily w/scraper. Work fast and make often and you will become a pro! Ps Less is more! Dont fondle it too much after 1st rise!! Dump..flip, flip is good! If you play with it too much you could get flat bread...really flat!
Vaishali
Love those tips, Melissa, thanks for sharing!
Rob
Hi, please can you clarify the measurements? When using the metric measurements it shows 480g flour to over 500ml water which can't be correct as that's over 100% hydration. Thanks!
Jon.G
I upped the flour to 530g and kept the water to 500ml. I thought the %hydration level was really high, but once you go through the paddle beating and dough hook session the dough completely changes. I make a lot of pizza dough and never go beyond 65% hydration but this is next level stuff. Use plenty of flour when shaping and leaving to prove else it'll stick. They look flat when they go into the oven but puff up beautifully.
Elli
What mixing speed should the bread hook be on?
Vaishali
Medium--around four would be fine.
Andrea
What do should you do if you do not have a baking stone?
Vaishali
Just use a baking sheet.
Jennifer
Incredible recipe with fantastic results. I've made this twice this week. We are so impressed with it that I'm dumping my previous artisan recipe which was decent but not as delicious and airy as this. Thank you for providing such a simple recipe that is ready to bake the same day.
Vaishali
Hi Jennifer, so happy to hear.
Nicholas Fazio
Can you post weight measurements. Or ratio.
Marion
Hi,
Ive started making it but realise the high temperature needed to cook…. It says 500 degrees but my oven only goes as high at 220 degrees- what should I do??
Vaishali
Hi Marion, your temps are prob marked in celsius-- mine are in Fahrenheit. 220 degrees C is about 425 Fahrenheit. That could still be a bit low for the ciabatta because it needs a strong burst of heat, but you could try setting your oven to the highest point and see if it works.